I purchased a Music Hall 5se about a year ago ($650) and I now listen to vinyl 80% compared to CDs. Goodwill has become one of my favorite haunts! Many LPs, some requiring a spin on the Nitty Gritty ($4-$900, sometime less used.) The sound is much more pleasant to my ears, although I don't have many complaints about my Meridian CD and BAT 3i preamp (phono card). I am always surprised by how much I enjoy the texture of sound from an LP and changing the album after one side, looking at and reading the cover. I'd say keep the albums, buy a good turntable for less than $600, but only if you think you will buy more vinyl in the future. Of course, this could lead to another obsession.
How much $ to "match" digital in my system?
I know this is a difficult question, but let me explain how it arose. I'm currently using Apple's Airport Express and iTunes through my Musical Fidelity X-DAC v3, w/ the X-PSU power supply, as source. Sometimes I also listen to SACD, but nevermind that. For amplification, I have a Classe CAP-101, and my Paradigm 20's are soon to be replaced by revel m-22 monitors. I have no sub yet.
Visiting my parents for Thanksgiving, I happened upon a stash of old LP's. Wouldn't you know, there were all of these amazing recordings in beautiful condition: Ormandy, van Cliburn, Gould, Bernstein, and so on. Wow. My parents have a thirty-year-old crappy turntable, with a built-in amp. On that setup, the recordings didn't compare with cd quality, although there *was* something satisfying, despite all of the distortion. Anyway, they don't use or want the collection.
I started wondering what kind of investment it would take, in terms of turntable, tone arm, and cartridge, to enjoy their collection. Would I be better off selling their LP's and investing the money in digital software? Or could I, for a reasonable sum, get something out of that vinyl that cd's couldn't match? It's really all classical music, and especially orchestral. And I am not at all satisfied with my system's reproduction of strings. For whatever reason, it always sounds like strings are metallic. They just don't sound like live string performances. Piano and percussion are close enough for me, but strings, especially larger groups of strings, aren't. Hence, my question.
I know, I know... the sound will have different qualities. It will never reach parity with cd in some respects, regardless of what I spend, and it will better cd in some respects while spending very little. But I'm interested in hearing about your experiences. If you've added vinyl to an otherwise decent digital-based system, how much did you have to spend to feel vinyl was worth your time? And how did you spend it?
Thanks in advance.
Visiting my parents for Thanksgiving, I happened upon a stash of old LP's. Wouldn't you know, there were all of these amazing recordings in beautiful condition: Ormandy, van Cliburn, Gould, Bernstein, and so on. Wow. My parents have a thirty-year-old crappy turntable, with a built-in amp. On that setup, the recordings didn't compare with cd quality, although there *was* something satisfying, despite all of the distortion. Anyway, they don't use or want the collection.
I started wondering what kind of investment it would take, in terms of turntable, tone arm, and cartridge, to enjoy their collection. Would I be better off selling their LP's and investing the money in digital software? Or could I, for a reasonable sum, get something out of that vinyl that cd's couldn't match? It's really all classical music, and especially orchestral. And I am not at all satisfied with my system's reproduction of strings. For whatever reason, it always sounds like strings are metallic. They just don't sound like live string performances. Piano and percussion are close enough for me, but strings, especially larger groups of strings, aren't. Hence, my question.
I know, I know... the sound will have different qualities. It will never reach parity with cd in some respects, regardless of what I spend, and it will better cd in some respects while spending very little. But I'm interested in hearing about your experiences. If you've added vinyl to an otherwise decent digital-based system, how much did you have to spend to feel vinyl was worth your time? And how did you spend it?
Thanks in advance.